Here’s the first of 2 videos from this superb Bristol-based Nu soul / R&B outfit. Location recorded and mixed by Wij Productions.

This was an intense job, we had a small time window to make use of the venue during the day, 5 hours in all to get in, get setup (audio and video) and capture 2 tunes plus some string section overdubs.

Upon arrival, first thing to do was to assess the space and work out the best location for recording. As this was a simultaneous video shoot, the choice of location would have to be some compromise between the best visuals and sound.  The venue is a long vault, the acoustics could have been awful but there was enough treatment and choice of position to work with. We opted for the wooden floor in front of the stage, with the band arranged in a semi circle. The video guys set up a track to allow them to slide 1 stand mounted camera back and forth into the middle of the semicircle, with another hand held camera for alternative shots. In this kind of setup, there will always be a compromise between the best setup for acoustics and separation, and the best setup for visuals.

The band line up included keys, bass, drums, flugelhorn, 2nd keys, vocal and 3 string players (cello and 2 violins). I used a Universal Audio Apollo Duo and an MOTU 828 mk3 (as an ADAT slave to the Apollo) to capture the full set up, with Universal Audio Solo 610 external preamp to give me another mic channel. The band was mainly electric so I didnt need that many mic channels, just for the flugel horn (with an EV RE20), the drum kit (Audix overheads, RE20 on the kick, Audix D5 on snare, AKG 414 on the high hat) and the voice (Oktavamod Rode NT1a running through the UA 610 preamp). I put a couple of mics on the string trio but we decided to overdub them for the final audio as there was too much spill from the band. Everyone played live through their amps, and a foldback monitor was used for the vocalist. In the end we decided to overdub the vocal as there was a bit too much spill. Part way through the recordings I noticed someone had put the ventilation on, always one of the little things you have to look out for on location recordings in these kinds of places, only becomes apparent when you have a very quiet section (as 1 of the tunes here did).

The band we’re a joy to work with, slick, tight and super well rehearsed, they banged out 5 or 6 takes of each tune just like that, which is exactly what you want when time is tight. Once the video guys were happy that they had enough footage to work with, we quickly set up the mics for a more intimate recording of the strings. Acoustically they sounded absolutely gorgeous, the space served the sound very well. I used 4 mics, two Oktavamod NT1a’s as overheads, another facing the cello from behind and to the right, and a TBone ribbon mic in front of the cello. Some may argue that that is a slightly odd setup, but it gave me good results in the mix, I had been reading about how different acoustic instruments project different frequency ranges in different directions and I wanted to explore this.

Again, the string trio being seasoned pro’s laid down a few alternative takes of their parts and then we were done and dusted, just half an hour over schedule which was fine as it turns out.

The first thing to do when I’m back in the studio is back up the session, you never know! The vocalist came by another day and recorded a couple of perfect takes for each track (I say perfect as they synced up with the original vocal track word for word), then the mix began.

I used mainly Universal Audio plugins on this, the concept was to keep it warm and acoustic. Close micing and direct sound from the electric instruments gave me good control over the overall acoustic, I had to do some careful reverb and subtle edit tricks on the overdub vocal as there was some spill from the original vocal on the drum and trumpet mics, it worked out well though. I used a bit of SPL Transient Designer on the drums to help control the ambiance and shape the individual tones.  I was really pleased with the way the strings came out to, bussed them through the Fairchild compressor plugin to smooth them out and add some of that fabled valve and transformer warmth.

The final mix was mastered by Richie Blake (the bass player in the band) before being sent to the video guy for final integration into the finished product.